More Cuts Possible for Alabama

With tax revenue for the state General Budget running behind last year, Gov. Bob Riley says he will recommend seven percent budget cuts for many agencies that already are under 18 percent cuts.

The governor will give the Legislature his recommended state budgets for fiscal 2005, which starts on Oct. 1, 2004, on Thursday.

Tax collections for this year's education budget are running ahead of projections and next year's education budget will be better than the administration had originally anticipated, but that's not true for the General Fund.

In this year's $1.2 billion General Fund budget, many state agencies were cut 18 percent below the previous year. Riley says he will recommend another seven percent for the next fiscal year.

State Budget Director Bill Newton said that through the first four months of this fiscal year, tax collections and state interest earnings that support the General Fund budget are running seven-point-three percent behind the same period last year.

State fiscal experts had expected a decline this year, but not that much.

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